Thursday, May 26, 2011

This album is 9 tracks of funk-filled grooves oozin' that unbreakable New Orleans style, and will linger in your mind long after it stops playing. The tracks on "Comin' Up" vary from the solid, reminiscent New Orleans funk, seductive latin-esque jams (Track 9, Aright Tonight), to some down&dirty funk with soaring crescendos (Track 3, Stuck In A Funk-one of our favorites).

Earphunk is comin' up straight out of New Orleans. The group consists of 5 members: Christian Galle on keys, Mark Hempe on guitar and vocals, Michael Matthews on drums, Paul Provosty on guitar, and Michael Comeaux on bass. They've been playing together for a couple years now, performing through out the South and Midwest.

Each track on the album displays beatific ensembles and some serious musical cohesion. TMF (Track 8) and Earuption (ft. Khris Royal!)(Track 6) have some horns added in, and this is something we had been wanting to hear more of! It adds a solid backbone to TMF and displays great local talent on Earuption with Khris Royal on alto sax.

I had a chance to chat with Jim Morrison about the CD, and asked him what he thought. While discussing the excellent musicianship demonstrated throughout each song, he claimed that "Earphunk will put spunk in ya junk." Interested in seeing what more they'd have to offer live, Jim is yet another fan up in the Northeast eagerly awaiting an Earphunk show!If you get the chance to see these guys live, go! They always put on a damn good show, and seem to create their own vibe with the audience. We can't wait for them to come up to New England!

Combining their skills, knowledge, and many hours spent, "Comin' Up" shaped into a great CD with endless feel good funk and lots to offer. The new CD comes out Friday, May 27th and you can get it on iTunes or their website here: http://www.earphunk.com/index.html

CD release party is at One Eyed Jacks in Earphunk's hometown, New Orleans!

Hey everyone, we're doing a contest on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Way-Live-Should-Be/332066477529), and YOU can win a free pair of tickets to The Manifestivus, Toubab Krewe's 9th Annual festival, in Cabot, VT, July 22&223rd! Head over to our page, post your favorite song on our wall, and write 'I want to win a pair of tickets to The Manifestivus!' Be sure to tag the festival in your post! We'll be picking a winner on Sunday May 29th.

This festival is looking GREAT this year! Other artists include The London Souls, The Infamous Stringdusters, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, and more! Check out The Manifestivus website here: http://www.manifestivus.com/index.php or check them out on facebook!

In 2009, National Geographic.com The Best Of This Year's Summer Festivals acclaimed “[The Manifestivus] manages to punch above its weight by attracting top international talent." Now go enter that contest! Hope to see everyone there!

Monday, April 25, 2011

There have been many attempts to bring the festival aspect of the music industry to Maine, and it’s been shown to be quite difficult. However, on the weekend of June 3rd-5th about 2000 people (2500 max) will be gathering in Brooks, ME for a weekend of music, camping, and other typical festival fun.

Artwork by Isaac Wright

The small to moderate size of the festival, grassroots style of organizing, variety of music in attendance, and the very reasonable ticket prices have set up The Way Life Should Be Festival for great success.

The site is a large open field surrounded by forest, and is called Roaring Acres Farm. Great for camping and dancing! Also...picture thirteen different incredible acts on this stage and without a doubt, we're ready for a festival:

This mobile stage, from Image Production Services, is 33 feet long and covered! The sound is also being provided from Image Production Services state of the art sound equipment.

There will be some great music performed on this stage throughout the weekend with genres ranging from bluegrass to reggae to dubstep:

SCHEDULE:

Friday:1pm- Heads in the Clouds

3pm- Chaos Sauce

5pm- Jammin' Toast

7pm- Herd of Watts

9pm- Roots of Creation

11pm- Cyborg TrioSaturday:

11am- Free Advice

1pm- Fiddle Head

3pm- The Running Gags

5pm- Skyfoot

7pm- Sophistaphunk

9pm- Stream Reggae

11pm- DJ Dradis (DJ Les)

Many of the bands playing at The Way Life Should Be Festival originate in Maine, an aspect of the festival we highly respect. We believe that Maine festivals supporting Maine musicians is another important factor in the success of the festival scene in this great state!

One of these is the band Chaos Sauce, originally from Rockland and Portland, and well-known in the Orono area. Chaos Sauce’s music can be pretty hardcore, but it’s also way, way more than that. They are playful, talented, and their stage presence and interaction with the crowd makes for an incredibly good time. They have many great originals of their own (look out for Computer Malfunction...), and also do excellent covers by bands like Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Biggie Smalls.

Another band hailing from southern Maine is a Portland favorite called The Running Gags. These guys are awesome and include a diverse range of influences. They seem to have been writing more than ever lately, and we can expect a CD out soon! They also do a large variety of covers by bands like The Beatles, Queens of the Stone Age, and Harvey Danger. The most important emphasis is their straight up talent, and their playfulness and interaction with the crowd.

Sophistafunk is another band we are very excited to see on this festival line up, and they’re comin’ atchya from Syracuse, NY. This trio is said to have ‘invented its own style of cross-genre music by combining hip-hop & spoken word with the sounds of live funk, soul, and dance music.’

We recently released an interview with Sophistifunk’s Adam Gold ( keyboardist and occasional vocalist of the group) in regards to their last visit to Maine, and it is apparent that they are quite excited to come back for this festival! Adam left us with these inspiring words about their show at the Way Life Should Be festival, “ MAN are we glad that we're a part of this festival. Now that Nateva is cancelled, The Way Life Should Be will be the biggest most banging festival in Maine all summer! You can expect some crazy tricks up our sleeves. I've been preparing and saving up for some crazy new instruments that I plan on going crazy with this summer, and the way we absorb energy from the audience will only be magnified with anoutdoor festival.”Check out the rest of the interview here: http://thewayliveshouldbe.blogspot.com/2011/04/some-words-with-adam-gold-of.html

Jammin' Toast, Fiddle Head, and Skyfoot are all coming out from Massachusetts and adding some more great music to the lineup for the weekend. Also, Free Advice is coming over from NY and Herd of Watts bringin' the heat from Florida!DJ Dradis (DJ Les) is coming from the Orono, ME area, and is known for his late night sets and keeping people moving! His first time really layin' down what he had to offer was actually at a festival style party that contributes largely to how TWLSB festival formed. Festival coordinator, Dave Pike, seemed determined after experiencing some lower key festivals in Maine, to try to create something that would appeal to higher numbers of people. Pike has utilized his public relations degree for the overall coordination the festival, working with Peter Courand to find a prime festival location, and booking bands. The gatherings leading up to Pike's goal had been organized and thrown initially as large birthday parties for a friend on Islesboro. As they grew, live music was added and last year was the first time they had a cover, which was 10 bucks. The parties developed into a yearly event, and was given the name 'Irieboro'. Stream Reggae is Maine's premier reggae band, and has played at the Irieboro fests for the past two years, offering music from the heart and soul of the Caribbean.

Roots of Creation, a band out of New England as well, and Cyborg Trio (from Portland, ME!)will be playing back to back on Friday night. Roots of Creation will be bringing some great reggae/rock/dub to the table at 9pm on Friday.Cyborg Trio will be hittin' the stage around 11pm with some 'dynamic, psychedelic improvisation and carefully crafted beats.' They've created quite a name for themselves in Maine!

We're stoked to see such a wide array of styles at this festival, and at such a low price as well! It'll be without a doubt a killer weekend, and we hope to see everyone there!

Community Radio 89.9 WERU is sponsoring The Way Life Should Be Festival!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

On March 3 of this year the members of The Way Live Should Be (WLSB) went to see Dumpstaphunk at Port City Music Hall in Portland. The show was amazing, but it was the opening band that night that really caught our attention, largely because we had never heard of them before. Their name is Sophistafunk, from Syracuse, NY, and the core members consist of; Jack Brown - vocals, lyrics; Adam Gold - keys, bass, vocals and Emanuel Washington – drums. They describe their sound as, “Combining hip hop & spoken-word with the sounds of live funk, soul, & dance music, the trio SOPHISTAFUNK has invented its own style of cross-genre music”. We would agree! From the seriously talented percussive skills of Washington, to the pick-up-my-Moog and dance around the stage antics of Gold, and the enlightened, brilliant lyrics of Brown… these guys really caught our attention. Imagine our excitement to hear they would be playing The Way Life Should Be Festival (no relation) in Brooks, ME this coming June! A well traveled, really funkin' fun band from New York, back again? We had to hear what they thought about Maine from their last trip!

WLSB: Any comments on your last trip to Maine?

Gold: We had a freaking blast in Maine. You know, it seems really far away from New York, but it isn't. All those New England states are so close together, we were amazed how quickly we got to Portland. Either way, the vibe was incredible, the water was close by, and the area was just bustling with creative energy!

WLSB: Was it your first time in Maine?

Gold: I once attended a Phish festival in ME many years ago, and a couple close friends from college are from Maine; Camden and Greene. However, for the other two members of the band, it was their first time, and it WAS my first time in Portland! I'd heard so much about how great the city was.

WLSB: What did you think of Port City Music Hall?

Gold: I probably talk about Port City twice a week. One of our favorite clubs to perform in of all time. The beautiful art gallery in the front just prefaces the whole evening with greatness and creativity. The venue is FIRST CLASS, with an incredible sound system and sound engineers. The managers and employees there are more-than-accommodating, as well as the upstairs green room areas. (SHOWERS!) We can't wait to return to that venue, and the state for that matter.

WLSB: What was it like opening for Dumpstaphunk?

Gold: We were really fortunate to share the stage with legendary funk artists like them. They are super funny, super FUNNY, and ridiculously funky, and I envy their ability to get all the women up on stage like that! It was cool to level with them in the green room, and I believe Ivan got a phone call from Keith Richards while we were eating dinner!

WLSB: How did you guys get on the band list for the Way Life Should Be fest? What can we expect from the show?

Gold: Our agent Gabe helped put that one together, but my guess is that YOU and your friends that saw us at PCMH made it happen! MAN are we glad that we're a part of this festival. Now that Nateva is canceled, The Way Life Should Be will be the biggest most banging festival in Maine all summer! You can expect some crazy tricks up our sleeves. I've been preparing and saving up for some crazy new instruments that I plan on going crazy with this summer, and the way we absorb energy from the audience will only be magnified with an outdoor festival.WLSB: Why are you interested in playing Maine venues?

Gold: We love the fact we will be playing up there because we've never been that far north in the state, and therefore have never truly been able to spread our music to the people of Maine. Also, since I've visited there before, and because I LOVE lobster rolls, I just can't wait to get fat and funky for everybody!

WLSB: Anything else you would like to say? Again, we were super impressed and feel like you guys have a very distinctive, inspirational/motivational/super groovy sound that we haven’t really heard before!Gold: You know, one thing that comes to mind is, yes, we have a unique sound. Sometimes its so hard to get that across to people. “Hip-hop” is a box, even “Funk” is a box these days. There are SO MANY "funky" bands that are really nasty on the "jam scene". But… I really feel like our music TRANSGRESSES these boundaries. We are inspiring and positive dance music. Simple as that.

Simple as that indeed! Thanks so much to Adam Gold of Sophistafunk for chatting with The Way Live Should Be! These guys are sure to impress and make you shake your bootay at the upcoming festival…. BE THERE. Anyone who hasn’t heard yet about the The Way Life Should Be festival it is Friday June 3rd – Sunday June 5th in Brooks, ME. It includes other great acts like the Roots of Creation, Stream Reggae, Cyborg Trio, Running Gags, Chaos Sauce, Fiddle Heads and others from all over the east coast! Watch for the Way Live Should Be’s festival preview coming very soon! We hope to see you there!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

After my interview with Skerik, I rushed right home and put on Bewildered Herd, the first, and currently only, Dead Kenny G’s album. The Dead Kenny G’s are Skerik (tenor sax and keyboard), Mike Dillon (percussion and Vibraphone), and Brad Houser (bass and baritone sax). With Skerik’s words echoing around my skull, the music seemed transformed from just ordinary awesomeness to an album not truly heard before. It seemed much more revolutionary; full of punk intellectuality, vibrance, and even good old fashioned fun. These guys aren’t just doing something different, they’re doing it well. They utilize music’s traditional role of activism, communication, and solidarity, but translate it into a radical, post-post modern sound. Their new album, Operation Long Leash (wait until you hear the story behind the name!), comes out March 15, 2011 and is set to be an even more mind blowing, substance-oozing experience. More on that below, but first, some basics:

The Way Live Should Be (WLSB): How did the Dead Kenny G’s (DKG’s) come to be? And of course, where did the name come from?

Skerik: Well, Mike D and I have played in a lot of bands together; Critters Buggin and the Black Frames to name a few. Brian Houser was also in Critters Buggin. The DKG’s started with a keyboard player, Brian Haas, and then we switched and had Brad playing. It’s really good because Brad is a great, unique bass player and also plays the baritone saxophone. We each double up on instruments which helps us open up the sound a bit.

The name comes from this artist in Seattle, he told a friend of mine that he had a great band name but that only I could use it. When I heard it, I started the band the next day. It’s a great name because I’ve been a fan of the Dead Kennedys for years; they’re a very important punk rock band. Then Kenny G is just, such a jerk who makes horrible music and who symbolizes the whole commercial music/smooth jazz thing. We just want people to realize that there are options out there; you don’t have to listen to smooth jazz! There is real music with real substance out there that is smooth, but doesn’t pander in this horrible melodramatic way that smooth jazz does. A commercially, financially motivated way.

WLSB: Is Kenny G aware of the band?

Skerik: I don’t know. I think he’s locked away in his million dollar citadel. He probably doesn’t have a lot of incoming information. Otherwise it would make it really hard for him to do what he does considering most of the world is against him critically.

WLSB: Where does the DKG’s ultra unique sound come from?

Skerik: Well, theres the one side of it where you’re playing your record collection. If you’re a musician that is attracted to all kinds of different music it’s going to make the music that you play that much more diverse.

WLSB: Do you think appreciating the DKG’s requires an informed/musically learned listener?

Skerik: I think people should trust their guts more. There’s a great quote by Ornette Coleman that has to do with that. I actually have it here… “With my music I often have people come up to me and say I like it but I don’t really understand it. Many people apparently don’t trust their reaction to art or to music unless there is a verbal explanation for it. You can’t intellectualize music. It is only in terms of emotional response that I can judge whether what we are doing is successful or not. If you are touched in some way then you are in with me.”

He’s such a genius. I don’t think that the music we’re playing is really that challenging, like some of Ornette’s stuff. We’re basically a super party band that’s trying to introduce some interesting harmonic ideas, interesting linear ideas, and rhythmic concepts.

**Now, on to questions about the new album. From a new producer/engineer to an album name that is also the name of a secret CIA operation, the Dead Kenny G’s continue to bring their diverse influences and sounds to the table.**

WLSB: Were the creation processes of Long Leash different from Bewildered Herd in any way?

Skerik: Well the recording was different because we worked with this really great engineer named Randall Dunn. He was really special and had very specific ideas. He gets involved in the processes of recording and choosing what instruments should be overdubbed and what songs we should pick to put on the album. He was much more involved than the engineer of the first record. He’s pretty famous; getting to be a pretty well known engineer and producer. Look him up. He’s been making some really important records the past couple of years. It was a good opportunity for us. He’s been a friend for a long time and he’s really becoming a very special engineer and producer. That dramatically affected the sound of this new record. A lot of people are going to be listening in to the new record because of Randall’s involvement. However, the writing is similar to Bewildered Herd. We wrote the music as a trio and it still has similar ideas.

WLSB: The DKG’s image seems to have a significant political side. For example the song, “Im Your Manager, Im Your Pimp”, the album names; “Bewildered Herd” and “Operation Long Leash”. Is this a sign of the times, or do you guys have any sort of goals/agenda?

Skerik: That’s the punk rock side. We’re very influenced by 80’s punk rock. Like the Minute Men, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks… all that kind of stuff always had a very political message. All that has really disappeared, no one’s really been doing that which is pretty sad. That whole genre just sort of collapsed. On the new record there’s a song called Black Death and it’s about addiction to oil and addiction to drugs. Those are some themes and the kind of stuff that we talk about a lot. That one song sort of encapsulates what we’re trying to do.

WLSB: Should we expect any of the DKG members to be running for political office anytime soon?

Skerik: Ha! No, we’re obsessed with music. Music for us is a full time job, literally 24 hours a day. No time for anything else. The other two guys are sober. I drink a little bit, and maybe snowboarding, but that’s it. But that doesn’t mean we don’t endorse certain candidates and work with people. Mike D plays in Ani DiFranco’s band and she is very politically active and writes a lot of music dealing with politics. They were doing things with Dennis Kucinich when he was running for president. There’s definitely not many candidates like him. He’s a badass.

WLSB: Where does the new album’s name, Operation Long Leash, come from? We’ve read it’s the name of a CIA operation?

Skerik: Yeah, there’s actually a link in the album art work to the article on it. It’s a great story, just really incredible. I hope everyone gets to read about it. It was a CIA operation, but Harry Truman and Congress didn’t want to fund this operation because it involved supporting abstract art. So artists like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, etc; the CIA wanted to promote their artwork throughout the rest of the world, to show that America was a very free and open place. They couldn’t get public funding for it and there is a famous quote from Harry Truman he says, “If that’s art, I’m a Hottentot”. I looked up Hottentot and it’s a derogatory, European name for a tribe in South Africa. So, here’s this racist old curmudgeon who doesn’t know shit about art in the first place and he feels that his racist opinion is going to have some relevance to the discussion. When there’s all these CIA guys who are all Harvard and Yale graduates that had extensive education in art. They not only saw this as a way to fight the cold war with the USSR, but they were also fans of the art and they actually owned a lot of these paintings. So in the late ‘90s one of these guys was retired and he leaked this story out and it was written in the Independent, an English newspaper. That’s how we found out about it. So anyway, they were secretly promoting this art throughout the rest of the world by setting up tours of the work. They would find an art promoter/collector in New York, for example, and the CIA approached them and said we’ll pay to promote this tour of this Abstract Expressionist art in Europe and we’ll underwrite it. Can you do it and don’t tell anyone where the money is coming from? And they were like, Oh yeah, of course; these people were promoting this artwork on a daily basis.

Its just so amazing; they had these tours and they were doing it covertly. The artists didn’t even know. If you read about it I think there were some rules involved in the USSR and elsewhere; if you were an artist you had to paint in this realist style to highlight the people’s struggle, etc. The CIA was basically like, look, they’re telling artists how to paint and how to work. We aren’t telling our people what to do, we have a freer society, a better society and here is an example. I encourage you to read about it, I’m not a scholar on the subject.Not to mention it makes a great album title. In instrumental music we put a lot of thought into our song and album titles. Those titles are like our lyrics, like little haikus. It might only be one word or three words, but they can tell a whole story. Like Miles Davis, he used to do that. He was playing instrumental music but his song and album titles would tell a whole story.

Skerik: Oh yeah, we’ve played the Stone Church a bunch of times. I’ve also played Portland, ME a couple of times with Claypool. I’d really like to get back up there.

WLSB: What do you think of the “East Coast Scene” compared to the “West Coast Scene”?

Skerik: I don’t see differences like that. We did really well the last time we were on the east coast. We haven’t been up north, but people were really supportive with a lot of people coming out to shows. It was really great. A lot of real passionate people everywhere, we are very lucky.

WLSB: Would you guys consider coming to Nateva?

Skerik: Well, the only way we can ever play any shows is if someone invites us. A lot of people come up to us and say why don’t you play here or here. I say well you tell the local clubs to hire us. We can’t just invite ourselves to your house, we have to be invited!(Let’s work on that folks, ask Nateva to invite the Dead Kenny G’s!!)

WLSB: Anything else you would like to say?

Skerik: Well, we’ve actually been dressing up as dead Kenny G’s, so check it out, it’s going to be really fun!

The Way Live Should Be sends our everlasting thanks to Skerik for the opportunity to speak with one of our musical heroes. The DKG’s show in New Hampshire is March 16, 2011 at the Brick House, Dover, NH. (ONE DAY after the release of the new album… if that’s not an occasion to come party, I don’t know what is!!!) We will absolutely be there, and we hope to see you there too… it’s going to be an unforgettable opportunity to see a truly amazing, substance band, up close and personal.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Every single one of the local bands in the Orono area has something to offer that none of the other local bands offer. Besides the amazingly vast array of distinctly talented musicians, each band has its own unique quality that the others lack. It can make nights where multiple bands are scheduled to play at the same time an incredibly difficult decision. Do I go see Chaos Sauce and get a 100,000 volts of sheer Rock Power? Or do I see Frank and the Red Hots for that more carefree, jammy sound that is so reminiscent of summer and Festival Season (!!!)? From Suit Mullet’s smooth, jazzy and almost sinfully addictive sound to the Running Gags extensive range of well mastered musical styles to Restless Groove’s…. well… restless grooves it continually amazes us here at The Way Live Should Be how very, very lucky we are.

Not to say all is well in the area’s music community. It can’t be easy being a local band in Orono right now. With the recent (temporary!!) loss of The Dime as a venue we lost a venue with a great stage, quality sound system, and PLENTY of dancing room. We love Woodmans, a lot!, but there is a serious lack of groove space. And what the Roost makes up in dancin’ room is unfortunately lost in their occasional rude treatment of the bands. No one is perfect, and owning a bar always has to be business first, but we have been thinking the upstairs of the Bear Brew could become a good raging spot for live music again. Remembering a few Funk Thrust shows there from a few semesters ago really helped us to appreciate the potential of that space. Also, in a town affected by a recovering economy and a high percentage of incredibly busy and flaky college students its hit or miss for any band, any night.

All that being said, the show must go on. And go on it does! Last night I made the difficult choice to spend most of the night at Woodman’s with Restless Groove. It must be mentioned that my decision was weighted in their favor. The Way Live Should Be’s very own Kim Morrison joined RG on the saxophone for the cover of Les Claypool’s One Better. It was Morrison’s first ever public show and we just have to say, she killed it. Though a little shy and quiet at first, she grew in confidence and really completed a song that is somewhat empty without the saxophone. RG has played One Better for some time, but Skerik’s saxophone is a defining point of the song and it has never sounded so good by RG as last night. Kim sounded really solid, even natural, and we are confident we will be seeing more of her “on stage”. Great job girl!!

Another good friend, Andrew Downey, graced us with his intelligent and thoughtful rhymes, performing the RG’s and Downey’s newest song the Fritz, as well as a couple others. The Fritz has quickly become an obvious favorite in the audience and features an exceptional fusion between RG musical style and Downey’s personal flow. Downey brings a hip hop sound to RG that makes them a better band over all and gives them a musical side everybody seems to love and relate to.

As a band, Restless Groove’s defining characteristic is all in the name; the groove. From the way they start the show by jamming and building an instant groove to the absolutely irresistible way they get you on your feet they have it all figured out. They interweave their well-loved and dynamic originals with seamless covers and ingenious “Metallys” in a way that leaves the audience member no choice but to unmercifully, continuously Rock Out. Their cover of Tommy the Cat, featuring one of Primus’ most distinctive themes and musical assemblages, is so insanely spot-on that only Primus could do it better. Regardless of who those four individuals are outside of the band, when they play together they become something much more than just the sum of four parts.

What to take away from this (intended to be) short update on the music scene in Orono, ME? Go out and support live music. Live LOCAL music. You will not be disappointed!!

Upcoming shows:Suit Mullet: March 1st, Bear Brew, Orono.Running Gags: March 19th Loon Ski Moutain, New HampshireAnd many more popping up between now and then… keep your eyes peeled to the band’s various facebook pages!!!